Ever since I made our first sale way back in the fall of 1989, I’ve always been honest and upfront.  It was the way I was raised, plain and simple.

It was frustrating though, because I would often lose sales to higher priced, smooth-talking salesmen -- salesmen who would use high pressure, manipulative sales tricks to get the job. 

It was so frustrating, that I hired a business consultant to help us develop a sales approach that would increase our chances of beating the high pressure guys.   I liked the first six steps of his approach - the stickler was the seventh.

In a weak moment against all my better judgement,  I tried his seventh step.  It was a ‘sale’, that actually had ‘just expired’, but if the customer signed that day we would honor the sale price.  The thing is, there WAS no sale - just an inflated price reduced to our regular price.  It was simply a dirty, manipulative tactic just like those used by our competitors.

I hated it.

During this consulting period, my Aunt Wanda happened to call for an estimate, so I asked our consultant how to use his sales approach with my aunt - I certainly didn’t want to use anything remotely resembling shady tricks on family.  His advice was eye-opening.

“With family,” he said, “You need to be straightforward and give your best price upfront.  Use the first six steps to introduce your company and describe your products, but just give her your best price.  That’s what family members expect.”  When I hung up the phone I had already decided - we will give all our customers the best price upfront - no fake discounts, no manipulative tactics, no tricks that would make me lose sleep.

From that day, I vowed to NEVER play pricing games with my customers.

We call it our “Aunt Wanda” sales approach.  You get the best deal right up front with ZERO pressure to buy. 

Just like family.